Episode 16 //
Behind the Scenes: Devils of the Deep

Welcome back to the Beneath the Surface Podcast. Hot off the mic is episode 16, going behind the scenes of BOTE Presents // Devils of the Deep: The Red Assassin. The film is centered around Cash McGuinnes, a ridiculous fictional character played by BOTE's very own Sean Murphy. The short film is a spoof of all spoofs, inspired by River Monsters and taking place in the Florida Panhandle.

Ever since his dad saved him from being eaten by a 300 lb. catfish when he was three, Cash McGuiness has been obsessed with what lurks beneath the surface. His life's mission is to hunt down the mysterious creatures that lie behind the rumors and myths.

In Beneath the Surface Podcast: Devils of the Deep, Sean and Corey sit down with the crew that helped to conceptualize and produce the film. As one might come to expect, there are a lot of twists and turns throughout the podcast with plenty of laugh out loud moments. Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

• "I may be only 80% sure I have solved the mystery of this creature, but one things for certain - the rumors of the story of the Red Assassin are 100% true."
  - Cash McGuiness

Show Notes

• 00:00:00 Intro
  Corey and Sean sit down with a few key members of the crew that helped to produce BOTE Presents // Devils of the Deep: The Red Assassin. Sean's voice is worn out from the shoot and he promises to keep the talking to a minimum to rest his vocal chords.

  00:02:48 The Idea was Born
  It appears Sean and Corey have a few TV indulgences just like the rest of us. The two discuss why they can't get enough of River Monsters and Jeremy Wade, the star of the show. There's something about the unique and bizarre layout of the show--is it a detective show? Is it about fishing? It's both!--that grabs their attention and inspires the concept for the next BOTE Presents project.

  Why not create a spoof of a show that's already a spoof? Corey and Sean decide the idea is a go and immediately enlist the help of Wil Beaucher, Sean's not-so-secret weapon over 25 years of collaborating on projects.

  00:05:34 Sean's Not-So-Secret Weapon
  Wil Beaucher is Sean's secret weapon for producing, writing, and generally punching up video content. It's unclear exactly how they met. Was it when Wil modeled for a Dockers photoshoot? Or when Wil and Sean worked in the same office building, where Sean convinced Wil to model in a booze-heavy photoshoot at a bar? Or, wait for it, was it when Wil enticed Sean to come to his office to check out disturbing videos on an OG dark web 1.0 website, rotten.com?

  Spoiler alert: there's no closure here. We may never know how Wil and Sean first met. Sigh. However, we can confirm they make a dynamic duo that creates wildly creative content.

  00:09:50 So, About Devils of the Deep
  Sean rambles for a bit (here we are five minutes later), when Wil reminds him, "weren't you going to not talk?"

  So anyway, back to Devils of the Deep. Wil wrote the script, centered around a fictional character, played by Sean Murphy, Cash McGuinness. Rob developed logos and artwork to bring the concept to life.

  00:13:36 The Weather Took Over
  Despite their best efforts to script out and plan, the seemingly uncooperative weather made for an incredible backdrop given the project's ridiculous content.

  "Get the f*@%ing camera. Let's do this… It literally looked like the end of the world." - Sean Murphy

  00:16:26 Behind the Scenes
  Much like any film, the video was not shot in sequence and great lengths were taken to bring the vision to life. Clips were taken from the Everglades video series, gas-fueled fires were lit in the BOTE parking lot, and Sean spent a few weeks growing a beard. Making the spoof of all spoofs ain't easy, but with this amount of talent collaborating on a 12-minute film, the end result was sure to be a success.

  00:20:02 It was a shit show
  According to Wil, the BOTE warehouse is approximately four million square feet. After several attempts to locate and map to a dark, creepy, unused office, Wil found the perfect location. The office featured wood paneling and no electricity--it was the perfect location for Cash McGuinness's office.

  Wil is used to working with actors and much to his surprise, Sean was a pro who rarely broke character. When describing the process of acting, Sean says: "It took me like an hour to get through this… I had to memorize a paragraph and stay in character. And the inflection had to be right staring into the camera and not laugh. It was hard man."

  00:23:07 Favorite Lines
  Sean stayed in character virtually the whole shoot, allowing the crew to pair scripted voice over with improvised content, creating so many absurd and memorable quotable moments from the film

  00:28:51 Catching a Fish
  In spite of the fact that the spoof is centered around fishing, they didn't catch any fish. Sean describes faking a catch for the camera when his rod exploded. Which leads us to believe, did he actually catch the Red Assassin?

  00:30:34 Carnegie Medal
  Sean enlisted a little help from his old friend Brian Wargo who happens to be a Carnegie Medal winner for punching a tiger shark in the face and saving his friend from a shark attack. True story. Brian, in an equally stoic act of kindness, helped the crew navigate water moccasin ridden water to tie up the final shots for Devils of the Deep.

  00:34:00 Outro
  Cash McGuinness needs to rest his voice. See ya.